It would seem that the eval boards should come with debugger targets already installed. I would expect that connecting an Eval card to a PC with software you should be able to download and execute code. It would be nice to download over USB or Ethernet. And it seems that a JTAG ICE is needed. Not ideal, but OK.

Got the EVK1100, Atmel-ICE and the extra kit with the 50mil to 100 mill adapter (thanks). Set up Studio 6 and built the EVK1100 demo application (confirmed build worked with the simulator). Selected Tools- Device Programming, selected JTAG-ICE and clicked Interface 'APPLY' (bit tricky there). Did a fresh build and clicked 'DEBUG' 'START Debugging'. The debugger cycles a bit and reports "Error: Saving to device failed".

Poking about on the net suggests that the ICE is having a hard time talking to the target.

>> I would expect that connecting an Eval card to a PC with software you should be able to download and execute code

> Where did you get that expectation?

> While it is, indeed, the case that most newer evaluation/development boards do now come with on-board debug adaptors, that has not always been the case.

Some time ago I used this new "AVR" embedded chip on a project. It was a breath of fresh air. The tools worked out of the box, complete with debug target on die. The target needed little support, and performed admirably. It came from a group in Norway, started by a couple of students...

The same processor, generations later is in the Arduino, which also is a breath of fresh air.

> What target device are you actually using?

The EVK1100 and looking at others

UPDATE: it seems that the XMEGA D4 is well suited... small footprint, no crypto restrictions...

> Have you looked to see if there is a board available with integral debug? eg, an Xplained-Pro board?

Yes, I have some of the Xplained boards (ATMEL ATXMEGAC3-XPLD, XMEGA-C3 XPLAINED & EVK1100).

> What target device are you actually using?

That is not clear. Evaluating the parts is an ongoing task.

I liked the AVR32UC3B (not the name), but the I/O ring running on a slower clock makes for erratic GPIO timing (the application calls for I2C implemented in GPIO).

The ATxmega384C3 seems sufficient so far.

[Forum feedback provided heads up on a few things, like ITAR restrictions (thanks)]

> (so that people don't waste time suggesting ones that you've already discarded)

[the application is to manage scores of sensors operating at 3.3 volt, over I2C @ 400 KHz, that produce 64 bits of raw data every millisecond; there is a need for ~100 I2C bus clocks with overhead per device sample set. A single I2C bus is insufficient to offload the data fast enough. The intended solution is to implement 8 or 16 I2C buses using GPIOs. Timing of when GPIO operations occur is critical. The uplink to the host will post about 600 bytes every cycle, ~5 Mbps upstream]

> Which [CPUs] have you eliminated so far?

1) Anything with a crypto core... in case there is a desire to export the device.

2) The AVR32s all seem to have issues with the I/O ring. The operations (at 15 MHz) seem to revolve around 160ns GPIO (320 ns minimum resolution of a waveform) and seems to gobble CPU clocks while the I/O is in process (this may be a configuration issue). [code running on EVK-1100/AT32UC3A, simulated on AT32UC3B0].

3) The USB90 looks good, the peripherals are 3.3 volt, so to meet the performance requirements there may be a voltage level issue if running at 8-16 MHz and may not be fast enough.

4) The Mega family that does not have native USB; does not seem to have enough upstream communications bandwidth.

5) Have not looked at the ARMs yet... but they all seem to have the I/O ring timing problem (see #1).

Curious... I posted on another list (touching on the idea of hardware/software co-design) that conventional thought would put an FPGA in the design. It is an option, would make the design a lot more complicated and increase cost.

The Xmega devices with integrated USB seems sufficient for all IO, computation, management and communications.

Note that "Xplained" and "Xplained Pro" are distinctively different. No on-board debugger on the former as far as I know.

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